The American Pipeline Contractors Association (APCA) expressed strong disappointment in President Biden’s revocation of the cross-border permit between the U.S. and Canada for the Keystone XL pipeline as part of his “Day 1” executive actions. The pipeline was being built to carry more than 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The president’s move comes at a time when 300 miles of pipeline included in the 1,200-mile project have already been constructed and when the energy industry cannot afford to lose sacred jobs in midst of a global pandemic.
“On his first day on the job, our new president has put a lot of people out of work, damaged our relationship with our partners in the North, and undermined a key asset to America’s energy sustainability,” said Mike Castle, president of Castle and current APCA president. “Despite a commitment to net-zero emissions across the project when put in service, the president killed this important project for clearly political reasons.”
During last year’s presidential campaign, Biden had committed to canceling the project, which has been in development since 2008. In addition to its environmental commitments, project owner TC Energy reported that 100 percent of construction is performed by union labor.
“Keystone XL is no longer a proposal; this is a live project with real people working on it,” said Taylor Dacus, president of Troy Construction and vice president of APCA. “Our association is made up of merit-shop (non-union) contractors, so our support for this project is not for the benefit of our own members. We support it for all workers in the energy sector and for the American economy in general. We hope the president will reconsider this shortsighted action.”
